Happy hoildays from Marsh Harbor

This past weekend was the Marsh Harbor Christmas Festival.

This was a locally big event that many families and folks on the Cay came out in force to help kick off the holiday season in true Bahamian style. Tasty food with lots of conch and local favorites.
Here are some of our favorites:
Best face painting with three creative new looks! We could not decide on the best so, what the heck,  all three.

The girls wanted a dollar but were paid $5.00 for the lovely photos which I am sure was spent wisely...

Best bubble maker...ever...
should also win for the best spike hair doo













Here's a first, Competitive Christmas wreath making contest..

This is a timed event for the truly professional wreath maker. Make a complete wreath in 10 minutes and a panel of three judges determine the winner.




And the winner is......

Best motor cycle club Scurvy Few.....
they collected toys for needy families.

Best food vendor for conch salad...really The line was sooo long!

Best look at the guy making the conch salad...thinking OMG that looks like it would taste great!.....

Best fashion expression of color and creativity...

The highlight was Her Royal Majesties Royal Prison Guard Band led by the first woman Drum Major...

My favorite drummer, they wore leopard skins, while I am not certain they looked real.....probably passed down from generation to generation from a bygone era. The head of the leopard was draped over his back.

My favorite instrument....rake and scrape
Looks like something from years ago in my mom's kitchen used to grate vegetables.....It added a lot to the medley of music.

Best series of marching band precision formations...the figure eight.....

Best couple of guys watching the parade and thoroughly having fun.....

Best "wow" that was really good ......

Best look at having a good time....
By the way, that is barbeque jerk chicken and it was spicy and great.

Best children's choir....

Best Christmas Tree.....

 Best hot dog....for those, like me who are connoisseurs of the beloved dog

Best of a "Mom look" at her kids....you know she was thinking "now don't make me come over there"
...that will keep them in line....

Meanwhile back at the boat a guy came by selling the largest stone crab claws we have ever seen.

Best dinner on the island....











All in all we had a wonderful time and a great way to kick off the holiday season.

Photos were complements of Susan Cope...a fantastic job!

Hopetown, Elbow Cay

The other day we had a let up in the winds and dropped our dinghy ( which is named One Winghy Dinghy) and ran across the Sea of Abaco to Hopetown on Elbow Cay;  trip of just under 7nm one way. A good day with a light chop on 1-2 rollers at the center.

Hopetown is one of those places that by virtue of its charm and picturesque nature, it represents what  you might think of as the Bahamas.

Coming by sea, which is the only way to get there, the first sight is the beautiful lighthouse built by the British in the 1864, much against the desires of the locals. They profited greatly from ships wrecking on the reefs and the salvage of the cargo.

We tied up at the dinghy dock behind us. While it is hard to see, the water is very clear and a beautiful blue green.
I meant to bring a small anchor for the dinghy but in all of our haste to depart in September I forgot. Here they like you to use a stern anchor so more dinghies can get into a small space. I bought one a few days later.

Susan and Ray Cope rode over on their dinghy named Molly Muffin.  Later with a Dark & Stormy in hand,  Ray and I  will braid a line with a thimble and shackle to get my new anchor properly set up.








Here is a photo tour:

Cleaning conch and making a horn

Conch is a staple in the Bahamas, much like blue crabs are in the Chesapeake Bay, our home waters. Served fried, as in cracked conch ala Didgie, wow! or Susan Cope's yummy ceviche...
We can clean a mean crab in short order but cleaning conch is a first, so our good friends Captains Bob & Didgie were on hand to walk us through the process.


There are really two ways to clean a conch depending on what you want to do with the shell afterwards. One uses a hammer  to break a hole in the top spiral large enough to get a knife in to cut the ligament holding the meat to the shell.

There were three that we we are cleaning this way. You can see the shell on the right:  the first hole was a bit high and the second did the trick.

Reaching in and pulling the meat out and preparing to clean it. Thanks Didgie!

Tonight we will have a freshly prepared conch ceviche.

The other way to clean these is to freeze them overnight and once frozen, place them in a warm bucket of water allowing them to partially thaw. Your can then pull out the meat and leave the shell intact. We wanted one to make a conch horn, a right of passage I guess.

A bit of soaking and cleaning followed by cutting and working the end hole smooth and voila a conch horn.

Still a bit of cleaning to do including letting it dry for a few days in the sunshine.

While new to blowing a conch horn, I make a sound like a Moose in heat which has me laughing so hard that I have a hard time getting a good seal for the next try.....

I guess we can take this off our bucket list!